218 REVIEW — TKOriCAL MEDICINE, ETC. 



Veterinary Bilharziosis in Ani>iiiili. — In a long paper by Montgomoiy' there is an account of 



Diseases— bilharziosis of the horse, which he says is widely distributed throughout the Himalayan 

 cniitinunl districts of India. It is of interest to note that in no cases were the ova of the Schintosomum 

 iudicuia found in the centrifugalised urine of ponies kept under observation, although the 

 adults were found on post mortem examination of the faeces and scrapings of the rectal mucous 

 membrane. Ante mortem examination was also fruitless. The post mortem appearances 

 were marked congestion of the XDortal venous system, the mesenteric veins of the colon 

 and rectum being distended and varicose ; careful dissection of these revealed the parasite. 

 The pelvic veins were very congested and tortuous. The bladder showed varicosity of the 

 veins of the neck, and punctiform haemorrhages in the fundus of bladder. The mucous 

 membrane was intact and free from any papillomatous growth. 



The large intestine of equines was the only organ in which ova could be found present 

 in any numbers. They lay between the Lieberkuhn glands. The mucus showed petechial 

 haemorrhages. Scrapings of these haemorrhagic areas revealed the presence of eggs. 



The Schistosomniii is best obtained by dividing the veins of the portal system and 

 collecting the blood in a tray. The male parasites may be detected as small white bodies 

 which, if the autopsy has been performed soon after death, may be seen undergoing various 

 changes in shape. Montgomery obtained the t>chistosomu»i twice in the pancreatic veins and 

 once in the pelvic veins. Of interest is his observation that the ova found in the rectum 

 had terminal spines despite the powerful muscular wall of the horse's rectum. Further, 

 Montgomery describes the presence of the Schistosoiiniia iudicam in the portal vein and its 

 branches, and in the pancreatic vein of a donkey that died from surra. The lesions 

 presented post mortem were analogous to those found in the horse. The Schistosoma in the 

 donkey were larger and longer than those found in the horse. 



Montgomery' made some further investigations on bilharziosis in cattle and sheep in 

 India. The observations of Sonsino and Bomford show that in cattle serious and extensive 

 lesions may occur as a result of bilharziosis, viz., intestinal catarrh, thickening, ecchymoses 

 and cedema in the region of the ileo-caecal valve. The mucous membrane of the bladder was 

 ecchymosed, and contained papilliform elevations. In all the lesions the characteristic 

 ova of Schistosomidse were present. 



Montgomery did not find these lesions in any of the Muktesar cattle, excepting in one 

 case which displayed an interesting pathological condition of its lower bowel, two varieties 

 of hcBmorrliagic lesions being present. In the variety composed of minute discrete points, 

 bilharzia ova of the human type were found. In the other variety of haemorrhagic 

 lesions, which were linear and were arranged transversely to the longitudinal fold of mucous 

 membrane upon which they were situated, spindle-shaped eggs of the -S'. bovis type were 

 discovered. 



Two new species, the iS. bomfordi and the H. spindalis, were found in the mesenteric 

 vessels of a bull and of two plains cattle, respectively. 



Sonsino discerned the <S'. bovis in sheep in Egypt, in 1876, and since then the 

 parasite has been found in India. Montgomery observed no gross pathological lesions in the 

 sheep, and no ova were discovered, and yet in one of his cases found practically every vessel 

 in the portal system occupied by adult bilharzia parasites. 



Baldrey ascertained the presence of bilharzia ova in a sheep which died at Lahore. 

 The eggs were of the human type, resembling jS'. iudicam.. In a second sheep the same 

 observer found a further variety of ova differing from the others in the shape of the spine, 

 but no adults were discovered. 



Eeference may be made to Bursati, a strange complaint associated with the presence of 

 filaria embryos in the skin and connective tissues in horses, which is common in India. 



Lingard- concluded from a number of observations made in the Muktesar Laboratory 

 on horses and cattle, that the filarial embryos are present in the blood of affected animals 

 in varying numbers during the twenty-four hours, and that between six o'clock and ten 

 o'clock in the evening the numbers of these embryos increase enormously. They were fewer 

 in number in the month of September as compared with the months of June and July. 

 These embryo filaria are chiefly found in country-bred horses, but also occur in Arabs and 

 Walers. The mature filaria have their habitat in the walls of the larger arteries. It is 



' Montgomery, R. E. (April, 1906), "Observations on Bilharziosis among Animals in India." Journal of 

 Tropical Veterinary Science, Vol. I., p. 138. 



^ Lingard, A. (October 1st, 1905), "The Bursati of Horses, a Filarial Disease." Indian Medical Oaselte. 



